Jean-Louis Courtinat

Born in 1954, Jean-Louis Courtinat is a photographer whose career has been devoted to social photography. A member of the Viva and Rapho agencies, he was Robert Doisneau’s assistant from 1987 until the end of his life in 1994.
Unlike most professional photographers who cover different subjects and themes, Jean-Louis Courtinat has remained faithful to contemporary human weakness and to his speciality, photographing : hospitals, emergency services, disability, the great misery of the homeless, the Samu social, the elderly, the mentally ill, the end of life and palliative care, orphanages in Romania… His reports are commissioned by associations and NGOs, notably the Petits Frères des Pauvres, Secours Populaire, Secours Catholique and the Abbé-Pierre Foundation.
In 1991, he was the laureate of the prestigious Prix Niépce. His work can be found in many collections, including the Fonds d’art contemporain de la Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), the Musée Réattu in Arles, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie (MEP) and the Centre Pompidou in Paris.
He is regularly exhibited in France and has been the subject of several publications in the specialist press. He is also the author of thirteen books of photographs, including Les damnés de Nanterre (Collection Photo Notes, published by the Centre National de la Photographie, 1995), Vivre encore (Editions Contrejour, 1990), Fait & Cause (Editions Delpire, 1993), Les souffrances de l’âme (Editions La Compagnie du livre Rouge, 2023) and others.
In 2023, he was one of the winners of a major photographic commission from the French Ministry of Culture. His work was exhibited at the BnF the following year.
Jean-Louis Courtinat lives and works in Paris.